Renowned radio and car enthusiast John Clay Wolf and leading restaurateur Felipe Armenta became close friends after a chance encounter at a Walnut Springs tavern and restaurant about a year ago.
“I was like, ‘Hey, you’re a Pacific table guy,'” Wolfe recalled in a unique way.
After all, they are neighbors. Bosque County’s ranches are adjacent to each other.
“And he’s a total car guy,” Wolf said. “He has an amazing collection of cars. He’s a car guy, so he’s obsessed with my work. “I’d love to learn about the restaurant business if you could show me how[the car business]works. I’ll teach you everything,” and so on.
The two recently partnered on a car that sold for more than $1 million. And now they announced Thursday that they are collaborating on a new restaurant venture.
Wolf said Bosque Cantina is scheduled to open in mid-to-late November. The location is inside the same tavern and restaurant where they met in Walnut Springs, a little more than an hour’s drive southwest of Fort Worth. Follow the Chisholm Trail Parkway to US 67, then turn south to Texas 144.
The menu includes Armenta’s approach to Tex-Mex cuisine. Armenta plans to renovate the space to create a classic Southwest feel.
“John Clay and I have a ranch adjacent to Walnut Springs. We both have a passion for cars and love bringing people together over food and drink,” Armenta said. “He told me he wanted to combine those two passions and make Walnut Springs a destination, and I said, ‘Let’s do it!'”
And so it will be.
Walnut Springs, located in Bosque County, has become a hot spot for Wolf. He calls it “Radiator Springs” after the animated movie “Cars.” His description of the scenic, hilly drive to get there reads like a romantic tale.
“We’re going to create a gourmet spot out of it. It’s going to be a gourmet destination,” said Wolf, a 2023 Fort Worth Entrepreneur of Excellence recipient.
Wolff famously said that he “has” two things. It is an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit and a sharp resourcefulness that makes it difficult to do a normal job.
“So self-employment works for everyone,” he has said in the past.
He cracked the code on buying and selling cars through GiveMeTheVIN.com. Since 1996, he has purchased over 520,000 cars and counting. Over the past three years, the company has generated more than $5 billion in revenue.
Selling a car seems as easy as doing it in your underwear.
Wolf, who won the EOE on his second try, has a vision of buying and selling 100,000 cars a year.
“What it takes to achieve that is daily decision-making,” he says.
Givemethevin is headquartered in more centrally located North Richland Hills and has more than 150 employees.
Wolf has hosted a national radio show for more than a decade. His voice can be heard every Saturday on more than 60 radio stations nationwide. That’s where Gibmethevin started. Living in Vernon, he began purchasing vehicles from customers on-air.
Armenta is truly the “Man of the Pacific Table,” with locations in Fort Worth, Southlake, and Las Colinas. In addition to Pacific Table, one of his concepts operating under the Far Out Hospitality umbrella, he has also opened Press Café, Maria’s, Le Margot, F1 Smokehouse and The Tavern. He also operates Cowboy Prime in Midland.
Wolf said Bosque Cantina will include hyper-local options for beef. Armenta raises Wagyu beef on his own ranch, and the restaurant will also purchase Wagyu beef from Joey Walker’s W4 Ranch, which has specialized in Hereford cattle for more than 60 years.
As a side note, when I asked him what he was growing on his ranch, Wolf said it was bike trails. He still does those races, and in fact is back on the injured list after a recent unscheduled detour left more than just dust on his boots.
Anyway, Wolfe also said that another man eyeing Walnut Springs is Fort Worth-affiliated gearhead Richard Rawlings, who partnered with Wolfe on the record Humvee sale at Barrett-Jackson Auctions.
“Bosque Cantina” is just Wolf’s latest work in Walnut Springs.
Wolf recently opened a new classic and collector car headquarters called GMTV Garage and W6 Saloon. Both are adjacent to Rattlesnake Roadhouse, another bar and restaurant that Wolf co-owns.
Walnut Springs is named for the spring surrounded by walnut trees.
Once upon a time, during the height of the railroad boom of the late 1800s, Walnut Springs was the largest town between Waco and Fort Worth. That’s no longer the case. The most recent population numbers were compiled in the 840s.
“I saw it 20 years ago when I was driving by. No,” Wolf says. So four years ago we found a place and bought a ranch there. I’ve been looking at it for a long time, and I thought I’d do it here, and I’m actually doing it. ”
In this new venture, Bosque Cantina, he is partnering with good friends.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to partner with Felipe,” said Wolff. “With his talent and track record of success, this will be a great thing for Walnut Springs.”
